Just gonna talk about things I've been doing the past few days. Not much.
Picked up a copy of Okage: Shadow King, an old JRPG for the Playstation 2 by Zener Works. $8 at Half-Price Books. I love that store. I remember playing it years ago as a kid and being really excited for it, but I never got anywhere in it. Now I'm older and can appreciate its cleverness and tongue-in-cheek humor. The battles are repetitive and arbitrary, but the story is unique with some witty dialogue. The story centers around a young boy named Ari whose father finds a mysterious jar. When Ari's sister gets attacked by a ghost and cursed to speak only pig latin, Father decides that the jar must be some sort of mystic artifact that can cure her. It does, but the ritual releases a demon by the name of Evil King Stan. Stan wants to reclaim his former glory as the Great Evil King, but he can't because his essence was spread over the years to many lesser Evil Kings. Stan merges with Ari's shadow and commands him to find these impostor Kings and slay them. It's all very interesting in a "WTF" sort of way. I'm really digging it.
I also got into the Final Fantasy XIV beta. It's pretty cool, but so far boils down to yet another WoW clone. Which isn't BAD per se, just that besides the setting of being an FF, it's nothing special. Yet. But I dunno if I'll stick around. I know I'll get addicted and be tempted to shill out the money for a subscription. Nope. Also my video card is either on its last legs or I just need to clean the fans. It crapped out on me once yesterday. And good GOD my computer chair is squeaking like mad.
I went and watched DC's animated film "Batman: Under the Red Hood" and I liked it. I want to read the comics it's lifted from, and I'm also digging around for the other pre-reboot Batman arcs that aren't written by Grant Morrison. I've got my fill of him for a while, since I'm almost caught up with Batman, Inc. I've also gone back to re-read the New52 Swamp Thing and Animal Man, since I wanna catch up with those, as they are both amazing books. Swamp Thing is written by Scott Snyder, who's been having a great run on Batman stories the past few years, and has done American Vampire, so he's no stranger to dark stories. Yanick Paquette is the illustrator for the first chunk of issues, and the arts is gorgeous. Vibrant colors, thick lines, creative panel placement makes everything flow. Animal Man is also great, with a story by Jeff Lemire (also no stranger to the horror genre), and art duties by Travel Foreman. This is a much more, um, visceral book. It's quite explicit with the imagery, where Swamp Thing is more tame. Both books deal with the world of the Green (plants, Swamp Thing) and of the Red (animals, flesh, Animal Man). They individually tackle the hidden third world of the Black, aka the Rot (dead stuff, naturally). You can imagine the kinds of things the Rot would be. Both books illustrate the Rot as macabre and gruesome, but Animal Man's Travel Foreman draws some truly disturbing imagery. Both books are creatively and visually gripping, and I'm waiting on the second collection of Animal Man to reach my doorstep so I can catch up. They are both books that people need to read if they haven't already.
Finally, next week I'll be hitting up an anime convention in Rosemon, IL called Anime Midwest. Last year was really fun, even though I really didn't do much except hang out. This year I plan on actually attending some panels, as there are a bunch about webcomics and voice actors. I plan on having a write up of my experience next week.
That's about it for now. Just stretching my typing hands tonight.
__________________
I become the distance.
I am the sober and irrelevant.
I don't feel part in this,
What is there to believe?
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
*Clever Title Here*: Comic Review
Every Wednesday, new comics hit the newsstands and comic stores. Every Wednesday I have a pile of new comics to read either physically or digitally. So every week, maybe on Wednesday, or maybe the next day, I'll try to pick out one issue to go over and talk about. Ideally, this would be a 1st issue, a last issue, the start of a major arc or crossover event, or something other than just "the next issue". But today, since it's my first installment of this, and that I couldn't get said comics yesterday in a timely manner, I've got two issues to really go over. Otherwise, I'll give my brief thoughts on the many other issues I've read this week. So let's get to it.
The first proper review is for DC Comics' 1st issue of "Larfleeze", written by Keith Giffen and J.M. Dematteis, and illustrated by Scott Kolins. Larfleeze is a character created by Geoff Johns during his acclaimed run on Green Lantern. In his expansion of the GL mythos, Johns created more colors of the Emotional Spectrum, such as Red Lanterns stand for Rage, Blue Lanterns stand for Hope, etc. Larfleeze was the single holder of the Orange part of the Emotional Spectrum, Avarice. His whole thing was that, unlike the other colored Lantern Corps., he was the only wielder of the Orange light. His Power Ring could increase its power seemingly without limit and his ring's "constructs" were the bodies of those he has killed with his Orange power, effectively creating and controlling an army of constructs. The flip side of this was that Larfleeze was perpetually greedy and a bit dim. After the events of "Wrath of the First Lantern" (Johns' big finale of his GL run), Larfleeze was basically sent to the edge of the universe nearly powerless with only his alien butler for companionship. This story picks up after that, much like the other titles in the New52 Green Lantern group of books.
This first issue reestablishes Larfleeze's character with a (possibly inaccurate) life story reiterated by the sleaze himself to his butler, since at the end of the universe there isn't much better to do than tell stories. However, at the end of the issue his story gets interrupted by something that calls this part of the universe home. It's not a very eventful first issue, but it sets up the character of Larfleeze for anyone who doesn't already know about him (and let's be honest, if you don't know, then you don't care about the GL part of the DC Universe too much and this book on the shelf won't attract someone who isn't already terribly familiar with its continuity). What we get from it is the setup for what would make a decent mini series of maybe 5 issues instead of the ongoing series it's supposed to be. I really don't see how they can make this character into something readers will come back for each month. But I've been wrong before. So far we've got the makings of a clever romp through the outer reaches of space with a greedy little monster and his companion/slave.
Keith Giffen is a writer I've not read much of, but I have heard good things about. His issue of Green Lantern: New Guardians was not what I expected, but it was setting up a new series called Threshold which has since been cancelled, I believe. With Giffen on the plot and Dematteis writing the scripts, however, we get some clever dialog and an interesting set up for the rest of this particular story. Giffen also wrties Larfleeze like he was depicted in New Guardians; as a conniving, greasy, and sometimes amusing ball of greed as opposed to the more sinister version that Johns wrote before the reboot. Scott Kolins' art is actually pretty good too. It leans ever so slightly towards the cartoony than many more realistic approaches the Green Lantern books have had over the years. The colorist makes good use of the various colors and glows of the Orange light, and the whole thing has a unity in its orange gutters and dialog boxes.
All in all, for the Green Lantern fan this offers a more focused look at one of the lesser known Lantern colors with not much to offer right away. But, with good back-and-forth between the two main characters, some well timed gags, and a sudden appearance of conflict near the end, this COULD be an interesting title. But with all of the problems DC has been having, trying to make this a continuing story could prove difficult. Even if Giffen manages to get a huge arc out of this I have little faith in DC keeping this around for long.
The second book I picked up to review was Marvel's "All New X-Men" #13, written by Brian Michael Bendis and art by Stuart Immonen. The main idea behind this book is that, after the events of the Avengers vs. X-Men crossover, Hank McCoy (Beast) traveled back to the past to recruit the original team of X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman, and Angel) to come to the future with him to shame the main timeline's Cyclops into... I dunno, undoing all his actions from the aforementioned conflict? It's confusing to explain, and silly when you ask why is this a good idea. But the status quo is that the young, original team of X-Men are now living in the current X-Men continuity. Meaning some amusing or depressing conversations between a young Bobby Drake and his older self, or a young Angel asking his future self why he suddenly has metal wings. Bendis writes these conversations amazingly, since his forte has always seemed to be dialog between confused teenagers (great for Ultimate Spider-Man, silly and grating for Avengers). Bendis is basically in control of the X-Men corner of the Marvel universe for now, and ANX-Men, along with his also ongoing run on Uncanny X-Men, show that it is actually in capable hands. The past team getting timey-wimey'd off to the present is hard to get over for the first few issues, but it actually works out.
Anywho, the story right now is that Mystique is up to her old (or new) tricks, using her shape-shifting ability along with Lady Mastermind's illusion abilities to make it seem like this old team of X-Men have been robbing banks and dealing with HYDRA. This issue focuses on Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, and the original X-Men finding their hideout to bust some heads, without spoiling too much. Stuart Immonen has been on art duty for all 13 issues, and it has been really good. Just good design, layout, and action in the whole package, as you can see from this spread near the end of the issue (forgive my poor scanning abilities).
There's not much else to say on this. It's continuing Bendis' plot and developing how these younger X-Men interact with a confusing modern world. It is an interesting status quo for the X-Men, but all the time travel antics in this and many other books are setting up for something big in the Marvel U.
So this is roughly what I'll be doing each week, hopefully. With my work schedule never being totally set in stone, I don't know if I'll be able to make this every Wednesday, as this post clearly illustrates on account of it being Thursday. But at some point each week I will try to pick out an issue to review in such a way. Since I'm sure I'm boring anybody reading this by now, I'll leave it at that.
Yay, comics!
The first proper review is for DC Comics' 1st issue of "Larfleeze", written by Keith Giffen and J.M. Dematteis, and illustrated by Scott Kolins. Larfleeze is a character created by Geoff Johns during his acclaimed run on Green Lantern. In his expansion of the GL mythos, Johns created more colors of the Emotional Spectrum, such as Red Lanterns stand for Rage, Blue Lanterns stand for Hope, etc. Larfleeze was the single holder of the Orange part of the Emotional Spectrum, Avarice. His whole thing was that, unlike the other colored Lantern Corps., he was the only wielder of the Orange light. His Power Ring could increase its power seemingly without limit and his ring's "constructs" were the bodies of those he has killed with his Orange power, effectively creating and controlling an army of constructs. The flip side of this was that Larfleeze was perpetually greedy and a bit dim. After the events of "Wrath of the First Lantern" (Johns' big finale of his GL run), Larfleeze was basically sent to the edge of the universe nearly powerless with only his alien butler for companionship. This story picks up after that, much like the other titles in the New52 Green Lantern group of books.This first issue reestablishes Larfleeze's character with a (possibly inaccurate) life story reiterated by the sleaze himself to his butler, since at the end of the universe there isn't much better to do than tell stories. However, at the end of the issue his story gets interrupted by something that calls this part of the universe home. It's not a very eventful first issue, but it sets up the character of Larfleeze for anyone who doesn't already know about him (and let's be honest, if you don't know, then you don't care about the GL part of the DC Universe too much and this book on the shelf won't attract someone who isn't already terribly familiar with its continuity). What we get from it is the setup for what would make a decent mini series of maybe 5 issues instead of the ongoing series it's supposed to be. I really don't see how they can make this character into something readers will come back for each month. But I've been wrong before. So far we've got the makings of a clever romp through the outer reaches of space with a greedy little monster and his companion/slave.
Keith Giffen is a writer I've not read much of, but I have heard good things about. His issue of Green Lantern: New Guardians was not what I expected, but it was setting up a new series called Threshold which has since been cancelled, I believe. With Giffen on the plot and Dematteis writing the scripts, however, we get some clever dialog and an interesting set up for the rest of this particular story. Giffen also wrties Larfleeze like he was depicted in New Guardians; as a conniving, greasy, and sometimes amusing ball of greed as opposed to the more sinister version that Johns wrote before the reboot. Scott Kolins' art is actually pretty good too. It leans ever so slightly towards the cartoony than many more realistic approaches the Green Lantern books have had over the years. The colorist makes good use of the various colors and glows of the Orange light, and the whole thing has a unity in its orange gutters and dialog boxes.All in all, for the Green Lantern fan this offers a more focused look at one of the lesser known Lantern colors with not much to offer right away. But, with good back-and-forth between the two main characters, some well timed gags, and a sudden appearance of conflict near the end, this COULD be an interesting title. But with all of the problems DC has been having, trying to make this a continuing story could prove difficult. Even if Giffen manages to get a huge arc out of this I have little faith in DC keeping this around for long.
The second book I picked up to review was Marvel's "All New X-Men" #13, written by Brian Michael Bendis and art by Stuart Immonen. The main idea behind this book is that, after the events of the Avengers vs. X-Men crossover, Hank McCoy (Beast) traveled back to the past to recruit the original team of X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman, and Angel) to come to the future with him to shame the main timeline's Cyclops into... I dunno, undoing all his actions from the aforementioned conflict? It's confusing to explain, and silly when you ask why is this a good idea. But the status quo is that the young, original team of X-Men are now living in the current X-Men continuity. Meaning some amusing or depressing conversations between a young Bobby Drake and his older self, or a young Angel asking his future self why he suddenly has metal wings. Bendis writes these conversations amazingly, since his forte has always seemed to be dialog between confused teenagers (great for Ultimate Spider-Man, silly and grating for Avengers). Bendis is basically in control of the X-Men corner of the Marvel universe for now, and ANX-Men, along with his also ongoing run on Uncanny X-Men, show that it is actually in capable hands. The past team getting timey-wimey'd off to the present is hard to get over for the first few issues, but it actually works out.
Anywho, the story right now is that Mystique is up to her old (or new) tricks, using her shape-shifting ability along with Lady Mastermind's illusion abilities to make it seem like this old team of X-Men have been robbing banks and dealing with HYDRA. This issue focuses on Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, and the original X-Men finding their hideout to bust some heads, without spoiling too much. Stuart Immonen has been on art duty for all 13 issues, and it has been really good. Just good design, layout, and action in the whole package, as you can see from this spread near the end of the issue (forgive my poor scanning abilities).
There's not much else to say on this. It's continuing Bendis' plot and developing how these younger X-Men interact with a confusing modern world. It is an interesting status quo for the X-Men, but all the time travel antics in this and many other books are setting up for something big in the Marvel U.
So this is roughly what I'll be doing each week, hopefully. With my work schedule never being totally set in stone, I don't know if I'll be able to make this every Wednesday, as this post clearly illustrates on account of it being Thursday. But at some point each week I will try to pick out an issue to review in such a way. Since I'm sure I'm boring anybody reading this by now, I'll leave it at that.
Yay, comics!
Saturday, June 22, 2013
On comics
Hey again everybody (all... zero of you probably).
One of the big things I wanna do on this blog is talk about comics. I want to offer my opinions on various titles, books, authors, illustrators, etc. I'd like to review them occasionally and talk about what's going on with them. But first a little about comics and I.
As a kid I read comics a lot, mostly collections of funny pages strips like Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, and Foxtrot. I'd find my way to reading through Star Wars and X-Men comics on and off as I grew up, but I've always read comics in some capacity. But a few years ago, my sophomore year of college I believe, I really dug into them. I had stopped reading comics for a while, and just read books about the various Marvel and DC heroes such as the DK collection of guidebooks so I'd know about the increasing amount of comic-to-film adaptations I was interested in. But on a whim I decided to get back into X-Men. I knew about some of the big events at Marvel such as the Civil War and House of M but I didn't know what they were. So I managed to dig back into X-Men by reading the second volume of "New X-Men" by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost. Reading through that got me to read through House of M, and reading that got me branch out to other X-titles, as well as going back to read through Grant Morrison's run on "New X-Men", the re-naming of the core X-Men title that was launched in the 90's.
And from there, well, I read a fuckton of other comics. I made my way to DC comics and read though Geoff John's run on Green Lantern (having just finished this past month with his final issue of, what, ten years?). Likewise, I found my way to other DC comics like Batman, the Flash, etc, etc. Now I have a decent collection of comic trade paperbacks.
As you can see, I've got three almost-full shelves taken up with just my Marvel and DC stuff. Top shelf is DC (52, Animal Man, Batman, Doom Patrol, Green Lantern, Seven Soldiers, among others), middle shelf is assorted Marvel (Annihilation, Captain America, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Spider-Man, etc), and the bottom shelf is JUST X-Men related material, in (mostly) chronological order instead of alphabetically.
This shelf is dedicated to comics of other publishers like Dark Horse, Image, and whathaveyou. I've got stuff like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Maus, Penny Arcade, Scott Pilgrim, Sin City, Star Wars, and The Walking Dead. Along side that are two cardboard boxes of single comics I have been buying for a few years. That is just my physical collection. I've also got about 18 gigs of comics on my computer, some of which I haven't even read through yet.
So I've crammed a lot of comics into these past few years. I hope to post my thoughts on various comics in the future, and I'm going to kick myself to really keep this going and maybe make something of it. Like many comic readers, I've had my share of thoughts for my own comics, but I haven't done much with them besides what's in my head, since my writing and drawing skills lack on account of my spending five years on a college major in the natural sciences. Hrm.
But in the future expect a lot of comic discussion. For example, next week Wednesday the new comic issues hit the stands. One of the handful I'll be picking up is the first issue of DC Comics' "Larfleeze", a major character spinning out of Geoff Johns' "Green Lantern" run, and I'll be talking about it a little either that day or the next, along with the rest of my haul that day (All New X-Men #13, Uncanny X-Men #7, and Wolverine and the X-Men #32 (my gosh, that is a lot of X-titles)). I hope to do this sort of thing every week by picking my favorite issue of the week and talking about it.
But that's not all this blog will have. It won't all be about comics, but also video games, news, whatever the heck I feel like posting, reasons why I say "heck" and "gosh" when in this same post I use the word "fuckton", as well as other junk.
I guess stay tuned for more things???
_________________________________________
I am Iron Man
One of the big things I wanna do on this blog is talk about comics. I want to offer my opinions on various titles, books, authors, illustrators, etc. I'd like to review them occasionally and talk about what's going on with them. But first a little about comics and I.
As a kid I read comics a lot, mostly collections of funny pages strips like Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, and Foxtrot. I'd find my way to reading through Star Wars and X-Men comics on and off as I grew up, but I've always read comics in some capacity. But a few years ago, my sophomore year of college I believe, I really dug into them. I had stopped reading comics for a while, and just read books about the various Marvel and DC heroes such as the DK collection of guidebooks so I'd know about the increasing amount of comic-to-film adaptations I was interested in. But on a whim I decided to get back into X-Men. I knew about some of the big events at Marvel such as the Civil War and House of M but I didn't know what they were. So I managed to dig back into X-Men by reading the second volume of "New X-Men" by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost. Reading through that got me to read through House of M, and reading that got me branch out to other X-titles, as well as going back to read through Grant Morrison's run on "New X-Men", the re-naming of the core X-Men title that was launched in the 90's.
And from there, well, I read a fuckton of other comics. I made my way to DC comics and read though Geoff John's run on Green Lantern (having just finished this past month with his final issue of, what, ten years?). Likewise, I found my way to other DC comics like Batman, the Flash, etc, etc. Now I have a decent collection of comic trade paperbacks.
As you can see, I've got three almost-full shelves taken up with just my Marvel and DC stuff. Top shelf is DC (52, Animal Man, Batman, Doom Patrol, Green Lantern, Seven Soldiers, among others), middle shelf is assorted Marvel (Annihilation, Captain America, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Spider-Man, etc), and the bottom shelf is JUST X-Men related material, in (mostly) chronological order instead of alphabetically.
So I've crammed a lot of comics into these past few years. I hope to post my thoughts on various comics in the future, and I'm going to kick myself to really keep this going and maybe make something of it. Like many comic readers, I've had my share of thoughts for my own comics, but I haven't done much with them besides what's in my head, since my writing and drawing skills lack on account of my spending five years on a college major in the natural sciences. Hrm.
But in the future expect a lot of comic discussion. For example, next week Wednesday the new comic issues hit the stands. One of the handful I'll be picking up is the first issue of DC Comics' "Larfleeze", a major character spinning out of Geoff Johns' "Green Lantern" run, and I'll be talking about it a little either that day or the next, along with the rest of my haul that day (All New X-Men #13, Uncanny X-Men #7, and Wolverine and the X-Men #32 (my gosh, that is a lot of X-titles)). I hope to do this sort of thing every week by picking my favorite issue of the week and talking about it.
But that's not all this blog will have. It won't all be about comics, but also video games, news, whatever the heck I feel like posting, reasons why I say "heck" and "gosh" when in this same post I use the word "fuckton", as well as other junk.
I guess stay tuned for more things???
_________________________________________
I am Iron Man
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Holy first update in like two years Batman.
I'm gonna try to actually post shit here now. Instead of blurbs on facebook, I'll try actual sentences here. Well, not well-written sentences, but sentences nonetheless.
We'll just do an easy write up of the events of last night. I drove out to the nearby Applebee's to hang out with good friends Brock, Chavez, and Evan. While waiting on the other two, Brock and I ran through what we've practiced for our karaoke song for Anime Midwest in a few weeks. Got some beers. Yet again tried to convince Chavez to come to a future anime convention in September. Ordered some half-price appetizers. I got a plate of sliders with fries, and, like any type of "slider" *cough White Castle*, it only SOUNDS like a good idea.
Once all four of us were comfortable with our drinks and/or food (or Chavez's glass of water), Brock decides to ask the waitress if she could whip up an Adios Motherfucker. Imagine a Long Island with more booze, and blue. It was actually quite tasty. I'm sure if you asked, Brock will regale you with the tale that he already heard secondhand about three dudes who had several of these drinks.
It was actually not bad at all. But shared between the four of us instead of Brock drinking all of it. This is also when we discovered the best name for a shot; a "Lactating Hermaphrodite". It exists.
Back to Brock's house for Vesper Martinis (the "James Bond" martini; they're gross don't ever drink them), but this time half drunkenly blasting Rocky Road to Dublin by the Irish Descendants and singing along. More hanging out at Brock's place until near 2 am and we all head home.
I wake up and feel awful. I didn't drink a lot so it's probably not a hangover but what do I know.
So I'm gonna try to post more here, but on what I'm not quite sure. I'm sure I'll discuss school and "learning" more about Conservation and Environmental Sciences (my major that I will be getting a B.A. in in the fall), how I wish I took a long hard look at what I actually want to do with my life, what I may end up actually doing (or not doing, and that is a looooong list), how scary the future is, talking about art, comics, games, toys, and maybe posting up some of my own of the above for critique or review or whatnot. We'll see what happens.
_____________________
"Hunt the hare and turn her down the rocky road, all the way to Dublin. Whack ful lul de ra."
We'll just do an easy write up of the events of last night. I drove out to the nearby Applebee's to hang out with good friends Brock, Chavez, and Evan. While waiting on the other two, Brock and I ran through what we've practiced for our karaoke song for Anime Midwest in a few weeks. Got some beers. Yet again tried to convince Chavez to come to a future anime convention in September. Ordered some half-price appetizers. I got a plate of sliders with fries, and, like any type of "slider" *cough White Castle*, it only SOUNDS like a good idea.
Once all four of us were comfortable with our drinks and/or food (or Chavez's glass of water), Brock decides to ask the waitress if she could whip up an Adios Motherfucker. Imagine a Long Island with more booze, and blue. It was actually quite tasty. I'm sure if you asked, Brock will regale you with the tale that he already heard secondhand about three dudes who had several of these drinks.
It was actually not bad at all. But shared between the four of us instead of Brock drinking all of it. This is also when we discovered the best name for a shot; a "Lactating Hermaphrodite". It exists.
Back to Brock's house for Vesper Martinis (the "James Bond" martini; they're gross don't ever drink them), but this time half drunkenly blasting Rocky Road to Dublin by the Irish Descendants and singing along. More hanging out at Brock's place until near 2 am and we all head home.
I wake up and feel awful. I didn't drink a lot so it's probably not a hangover but what do I know.
So I'm gonna try to post more here, but on what I'm not quite sure. I'm sure I'll discuss school and "learning" more about Conservation and Environmental Sciences (my major that I will be getting a B.A. in in the fall), how I wish I took a long hard look at what I actually want to do with my life, what I may end up actually doing (or not doing, and that is a looooong list), how scary the future is, talking about art, comics, games, toys, and maybe posting up some of my own of the above for critique or review or whatnot. We'll see what happens.
_____________________
"Hunt the hare and turn her down the rocky road, all the way to Dublin. Whack ful lul de ra."
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
On one of the best weekends I've had in quite some time
Ramencon was awesome. I can't stop gushing about it on the book of faces. This past weekend was insane. Where to begin?
Friday
Thursday night I got almost zero hours of sleep from my anxiousness at heading out in the morning for a convention with a group of mostly people I didn't really know save a few. So I "wake up" from the slight rest I had at about 8AM and await a text from Brock to tell me that Evan is coming to pick me up. Well, I get it and he shows up and we pack in my one duffel bag and backpack and we ride off to Brock's place. Then we drive out to the milwaukee area to pick up Joe. Now our car is full with people, bags, and costume parts *cough* giant desert punk helmet *cough*. Our car is the first one out, since I am the one holding the reservation for the hotel rooms. It's roughly 10:30 AM now and Brock mentions that "Oh hey there's a White Castle in Kenosha".
"Fuck yeah let's go" we all say.
Never had White Castle before, and I was actually excited waiting in line. I can understand why they label their menu with the word "craving". That's the only way I see this place getting business. It's good stuff, but honestly you can get better tasting everything. It's mostly for the "holy shit am I hungry oh man there's a White Castle" crowd. The sliders are tasty, but I'd rather get a double cheese from Burger King for a "meal". Now, it's early. I usually don't wake up until 11 any given day during summer and never eat earlier than one. So after four sliders and zero sleep Brock says "Oh yeah, these will give you the shits like no other".
Thanks Brock.
So around noon we hit Chicago after being trolled by Willie's car (fuck you for "not picking up Caleb"). We spend a long ass time in noon rush hour Chicago traffic, hereby reffered to by Evan as "The Great Shitstorm of 2011".
Now we hit the Radisson in Merrilville Indiana. Nice place with a classy lobby pool and bar. We waltz around waiting for the two other cars. We unpack, go get our passes for the convention, and wander around some more. Room arrangements are made, with myself rooming with TJ, Kristen, and Vanessa. We all, for the most part, get in costume; me in Minato's getup from Persona 3. We head to the con and there are crowds of people dressed as god knows how many characters. A lot of people liked my costume, some took pictures of me, and a few hugs. And most of them were ladies! I know! I even got glomped by a few (or maybe the same one over and over). Too bad the huggers all looked maybe 15 years old.
Friday is kinda of a blur. Brock in his Ikakku getup with fuckawesome Hozukimaru and I sat in on a performance by Pillows cover band The Pillowcases. Soooo good. I walked around the dealer room. Bought some shit, got more pictures taken of me, and then went back to my room. We all decided to walk down to Hooters for dinner. Also a first time experience. Had some hot wings. Nom nom nom. The party splits up after that and I just kinda decompress in my room and talk to Vanessa for a bit. I can't remember when I hit the pool for the first time in forever. I ended the night in my room and talked to TJ and Kristen for some time before hitting the hay.
Saturday!
Oh man, Saturday. Wake up about 10ish and we all get into our second costumes. We walk around and, natch, more pictures and interactions. I met some new people who I'd tak to again later. The first big event was the panel for Travis Willingham, who voices Roy Mustang among others. I didn't have anything for him to sign except my badge. I got some $3 pizza and watched Case Closed in Brock's room for a bit before heading to the Troy Baker panel. He voiced Greed in FMA, Kanji in Persona 4 (!!!!!!), and Snow in FFXIII. He was pretty hilarious and then he had an accoustic performance which was also great. More autographs and then more wandering.
Our group had all mostly signed up for a cosplay walkway contest the previous night, and tonight was the night for it. I was nervous, natrually. I was in line between fellow carpooler Megan dressed as Kairi and a dude (need to get his name) whom we repeatedly met and talked to dressed as Snow (fantastically I might add). I walked on stage, did some poses, and half stumbled over whatever was holding up the backdrop. Natch. The winners were a really good Vash the Stampede (3rd), Kristen's amazing Yoko Littner (2nd), and some girl in a full Luxray fursuit (1st).
Woot.
I'm tired now. But nope, we're all rearing to go to the midnight rave! With an hour to kill though, Brock and I hit up another Pillowcases set that was cut short (boooo). But now, rave time. I thought I'd be there for maybe fifteen minutes and just chill and go to bed.
Nope.avi.
All 12 of us (well, minus Joe I think) party until roughly 2:30 AM with a mess of other people. I've never done that before. It was awesome. I "danced" with and/or around a bunch of people I knew and didn't know. I had about ten glasses of what Brock called "god water"; water that never seemed to run out and was always the perfect temperature.
My legs are only now starting to not hurt.
Sunday
I wake up in an aching daze Sunday morning. Evan, Brock, and I hit up breakfast at 9AM. Another mistake on my part about early foodstuffs, but eh. The last day wasn't too eventful. The last bit of people doing the last bit of congoing. Our car is the one that stays until the closing ceremony, which only Brock really checked out. Basically, we just met up with other congoers discussing various anime, tv shows, hair boners, yaoi, yuri, pedophiles, and traps. Not typos. Then we moved to a different location and switched talking partners. We went and bought the last of the shit we wanted to buy and said farewell. We packed up and drove towards Canada.
We passed through "The Great Shitstorm of 2011 Part 2: Electric Buggaloo".
On Friends Old and New
I had an amazing weekend. I want to thank Evan, Brock, Kristen, Vanessa, Willie, Joe, Megan, Justin, Zack, Caleb, and TJ for helping this to be one of the best weekends I can remember. Especially Brock for inviting me along when they needed their first 21 year old to get the room. I'm glad I hung out, talked to, and got to know you guys, as well as the fellow congoers that I am now friends with on facebook. Talking to all of you was so out of my comprehension before this weekend, but I loved every second of it. A lot of times after most social situations I find myself analyzing what I did or what I said or didn't say regarding a certain coversation. I should have said this or that was dumb, that sort of thing.
I did none of that this weekend. And that is one hell of an accomplishment for me.
And thanks Ramencon for being so great. I'm sure we'll be back next year.
____________
Ride on shooting star.
Friday
Thursday night I got almost zero hours of sleep from my anxiousness at heading out in the morning for a convention with a group of mostly people I didn't really know save a few. So I "wake up" from the slight rest I had at about 8AM and await a text from Brock to tell me that Evan is coming to pick me up. Well, I get it and he shows up and we pack in my one duffel bag and backpack and we ride off to Brock's place. Then we drive out to the milwaukee area to pick up Joe. Now our car is full with people, bags, and costume parts *cough* giant desert punk helmet *cough*. Our car is the first one out, since I am the one holding the reservation for the hotel rooms. It's roughly 10:30 AM now and Brock mentions that "Oh hey there's a White Castle in Kenosha".
"Fuck yeah let's go" we all say.
Never had White Castle before, and I was actually excited waiting in line. I can understand why they label their menu with the word "craving". That's the only way I see this place getting business. It's good stuff, but honestly you can get better tasting everything. It's mostly for the "holy shit am I hungry oh man there's a White Castle" crowd. The sliders are tasty, but I'd rather get a double cheese from Burger King for a "meal". Now, it's early. I usually don't wake up until 11 any given day during summer and never eat earlier than one. So after four sliders and zero sleep Brock says "Oh yeah, these will give you the shits like no other".
Thanks Brock.
So around noon we hit Chicago after being trolled by Willie's car (fuck you for "not picking up Caleb"). We spend a long ass time in noon rush hour Chicago traffic, hereby reffered to by Evan as "The Great Shitstorm of 2011".
Now we hit the Radisson in Merrilville Indiana. Nice place with a classy lobby pool and bar. We waltz around waiting for the two other cars. We unpack, go get our passes for the convention, and wander around some more. Room arrangements are made, with myself rooming with TJ, Kristen, and Vanessa. We all, for the most part, get in costume; me in Minato's getup from Persona 3. We head to the con and there are crowds of people dressed as god knows how many characters. A lot of people liked my costume, some took pictures of me, and a few hugs. And most of them were ladies! I know! I even got glomped by a few (or maybe the same one over and over). Too bad the huggers all looked maybe 15 years old.
Friday is kinda of a blur. Brock in his Ikakku getup with fuckawesome Hozukimaru and I sat in on a performance by Pillows cover band The Pillowcases. Soooo good. I walked around the dealer room. Bought some shit, got more pictures taken of me, and then went back to my room. We all decided to walk down to Hooters for dinner. Also a first time experience. Had some hot wings. Nom nom nom. The party splits up after that and I just kinda decompress in my room and talk to Vanessa for a bit. I can't remember when I hit the pool for the first time in forever. I ended the night in my room and talked to TJ and Kristen for some time before hitting the hay.
Saturday!
Oh man, Saturday. Wake up about 10ish and we all get into our second costumes. We walk around and, natch, more pictures and interactions. I met some new people who I'd tak to again later. The first big event was the panel for Travis Willingham, who voices Roy Mustang among others. I didn't have anything for him to sign except my badge. I got some $3 pizza and watched Case Closed in Brock's room for a bit before heading to the Troy Baker panel. He voiced Greed in FMA, Kanji in Persona 4 (!!!!!!), and Snow in FFXIII. He was pretty hilarious and then he had an accoustic performance which was also great. More autographs and then more wandering.
Our group had all mostly signed up for a cosplay walkway contest the previous night, and tonight was the night for it. I was nervous, natrually. I was in line between fellow carpooler Megan dressed as Kairi and a dude (need to get his name) whom we repeatedly met and talked to dressed as Snow (fantastically I might add). I walked on stage, did some poses, and half stumbled over whatever was holding up the backdrop. Natch. The winners were a really good Vash the Stampede (3rd), Kristen's amazing Yoko Littner (2nd), and some girl in a full Luxray fursuit (1st).
Woot.
I'm tired now. But nope, we're all rearing to go to the midnight rave! With an hour to kill though, Brock and I hit up another Pillowcases set that was cut short (boooo). But now, rave time. I thought I'd be there for maybe fifteen minutes and just chill and go to bed.
Nope.avi.
All 12 of us (well, minus Joe I think) party until roughly 2:30 AM with a mess of other people. I've never done that before. It was awesome. I "danced" with and/or around a bunch of people I knew and didn't know. I had about ten glasses of what Brock called "god water"; water that never seemed to run out and was always the perfect temperature.
My legs are only now starting to not hurt.
Sunday
I wake up in an aching daze Sunday morning. Evan, Brock, and I hit up breakfast at 9AM. Another mistake on my part about early foodstuffs, but eh. The last day wasn't too eventful. The last bit of people doing the last bit of congoing. Our car is the one that stays until the closing ceremony, which only Brock really checked out. Basically, we just met up with other congoers discussing various anime, tv shows, hair boners, yaoi, yuri, pedophiles, and traps. Not typos. Then we moved to a different location and switched talking partners. We went and bought the last of the shit we wanted to buy and said farewell. We packed up and drove towards Canada.
We passed through "The Great Shitstorm of 2011 Part 2: Electric Buggaloo".
On Friends Old and New
I had an amazing weekend. I want to thank Evan, Brock, Kristen, Vanessa, Willie, Joe, Megan, Justin, Zack, Caleb, and TJ for helping this to be one of the best weekends I can remember. Especially Brock for inviting me along when they needed their first 21 year old to get the room. I'm glad I hung out, talked to, and got to know you guys, as well as the fellow congoers that I am now friends with on facebook. Talking to all of you was so out of my comprehension before this weekend, but I loved every second of it. A lot of times after most social situations I find myself analyzing what I did or what I said or didn't say regarding a certain coversation. I should have said this or that was dumb, that sort of thing.
I did none of that this weekend. And that is one hell of an accomplishment for me.
And thanks Ramencon for being so great. I'm sure we'll be back next year.
____________
Ride on shooting star.
Monday, August 15, 2011
hey look another post about Ramencon
So, four days prior to the event, me, Brock, and a mess of other people met to discuss the plan of attack for Ramencon. Who's going in which car, how many cars, what about toll roads, can we fit a body in the trunk, the usual. It was originally a pool party that, hey, since all of the Ramencon goers are here, might as well talk about that too.
I mostly went for the meeting portion, not the pool portion, which was a considerably large portion. Didn't wanna swim, no trunks, no towel, so none of that crazy "fun" everyone seems to be talking about for me. Still got my pants wet though.
And they never properly dried before heading home. So sorry Brock if your passenger seat is somehow still moist. I doubt it is.
I sorta mingled with people once the pool was not a focused activity, but it was a lot of people I hadn't previously met so yup here come the social anxieties whooo. I would like to get to know these people better though. I just wish I could give off something remotely close to an impression when people meet me.
Gotta work on that.
Speaking of working, my Ramencon costume I ordered August 1st is looking like it won't get to me by convention time. So, a trip to Goodwill later, and I have the basic costume set up for $16. Very half-assed and cobbled together, but I guess once the real costume shows up I'll have a better spare for future cons.
At the least I can make a halfway decent Junpei Iori look. Otherwise, props and badges are coming along. Not smoothly or any other adverb to give off a sort of confidence, but they are coming into existance which is good enough.
The small one sticks on with velcro and the big badge actually has a pin in it. I made both from craft foam and it works well enough since the ones I ordered won't be here.
My gun just needs paint.
And look how small it is. That's what I get for being to lazy to try to measure a proper template instead of printing off the first thing that works. It'll be fine though.
I hope.
________
Late night you party until it's light
While pointing at the sky
Wash your hands in the lake of your blood
Just before you die!
I mostly went for the meeting portion, not the pool portion, which was a considerably large portion. Didn't wanna swim, no trunks, no towel, so none of that crazy "fun" everyone seems to be talking about for me. Still got my pants wet though.
And they never properly dried before heading home. So sorry Brock if your passenger seat is somehow still moist. I doubt it is.
I sorta mingled with people once the pool was not a focused activity, but it was a lot of people I hadn't previously met so yup here come the social anxieties whooo. I would like to get to know these people better though. I just wish I could give off something remotely close to an impression when people meet me.
Gotta work on that.
Speaking of working, my Ramencon costume I ordered August 1st is looking like it won't get to me by convention time. So, a trip to Goodwill later, and I have the basic costume set up for $16. Very half-assed and cobbled together, but I guess once the real costume shows up I'll have a better spare for future cons.
My gun just needs paint.
I hope.
________
Late night you party until it's light
While pointing at the sky
Wash your hands in the lake of your blood
Just before you die!
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
On Tooth Aches and Anime Conventions
The right side of my jaw kinda hurts. By that I mean the teeth on that side seem unreasonably sensitive at the moment. It's not actually something new so sorry to worry you.
But I have a story about Monday.
Even though it's Wednesday.
Monday was strange. I woke up at 10AM which is already wierd considering it's summer. But I had to bounce over to my friend Brock's house early before work at one. We were going to discuss what was going on RE: Ramencon. Ramencon is an anime convention held for the first time this year in Indiana (ramencon.com). Brock has a whole posse going to this thing. But, as the fates would have it, they needed a 21-year old to reserve the hotel room(s). He had called me up at the stroke of midnight and spoke in hushed secrecy about a proposition for me to be that 21-year old. I mulled it over, and I decided that this would be neat. So Monday morning I went to his place to confirm the plan. Then we decided that I should just call for the hotel rooms right away. I did. And the fates were once again cruel, for we were then informed that the rules were that we also needed a 21-year old per room. We needed three rooms, so we now need two more living persons of U.S. drinking age. Kind of a bummer. But come hell or high water it seems we're bent on this happening.
On that note, about 75% of my friend's friends are going in costume (in some cases several). So I though about it, and I had always kinda fed the notion of cosplaying as something simple and not overly hideous. So I found a way to bullshit two characters easily.
I decided to go as these two guys from the PS2 role-playing game, Persona 3.
Junpei Iori, and
the nameless protagonist. Basically it's the same costume with two or three swaps.
Like you care.
Then I had a long shift at work, and then I came home to just chill. Now my best friend since 5th grade Aaron decided to stop by with some beer. I tried it, like I always do when a newly shaped and colored booze container is thrust in my direction. I don't think I've ever fully enjoyed any of those beers. The difference between beers is as minute and insignificant as the difference between Coke and Pepsi. Which is moot because I hate cola of any kind.
Then, after driving to a rad/empty except for a box fort condo inhabited by my buddy Zack and three ladies that I don't but should know better, we saw a late showing of Harry Potter and the Last Movie Part 2. It was good, but needs to be seen back to back with part 1 to fully enjoy it I think.
Then bed at 6 in the morning.
And that was my Monday.
[/long-ass post]
_______________________________________
Talking to myself again, 'bout all the things I should have said.
But I have a story about Monday.
Even though it's Wednesday.
Monday was strange. I woke up at 10AM which is already wierd considering it's summer. But I had to bounce over to my friend Brock's house early before work at one. We were going to discuss what was going on RE: Ramencon. Ramencon is an anime convention held for the first time this year in Indiana (ramencon.com). Brock has a whole posse going to this thing. But, as the fates would have it, they needed a 21-year old to reserve the hotel room(s). He had called me up at the stroke of midnight and spoke in hushed secrecy about a proposition for me to be that 21-year old. I mulled it over, and I decided that this would be neat. So Monday morning I went to his place to confirm the plan. Then we decided that I should just call for the hotel rooms right away. I did. And the fates were once again cruel, for we were then informed that the rules were that we also needed a 21-year old per room. We needed three rooms, so we now need two more living persons of U.S. drinking age. Kind of a bummer. But come hell or high water it seems we're bent on this happening.
On that note, about 75% of my friend's friends are going in costume (in some cases several). So I though about it, and I had always kinda fed the notion of cosplaying as something simple and not overly hideous. So I found a way to bullshit two characters easily.
I decided to go as these two guys from the PS2 role-playing game, Persona 3.
Like you care.
Then I had a long shift at work, and then I came home to just chill. Now my best friend since 5th grade Aaron decided to stop by with some beer. I tried it, like I always do when a newly shaped and colored booze container is thrust in my direction. I don't think I've ever fully enjoyed any of those beers. The difference between beers is as minute and insignificant as the difference between Coke and Pepsi. Which is moot because I hate cola of any kind.
Then, after driving to a rad/empty except for a box fort condo inhabited by my buddy Zack and three ladies that I don't but should know better, we saw a late showing of Harry Potter and the Last Movie Part 2. It was good, but needs to be seen back to back with part 1 to fully enjoy it I think.
Then bed at 6 in the morning.
And that was my Monday.
[/long-ass post]
_______________________________________
Talking to myself again, 'bout all the things I should have said.
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